lol
17
A fascinating and prescient 1994 memo from, E. Wayne Merry, chief political analyst at the US embassy in Moscow.
(nsarchive.gwu.edu)
Worth reading both his cover note and the original memo, now declassified, in full.
The most interesting aspect of this whole affair was the crucial role played by the Treasury. They were running the American effort in Russia, and would not listen to career foreign service officers' critique of their policy. When Merry wrote a critical memo, it was squashed by the Treasury: "it would give Larry Summers a heart attack."
9
A fascinating and prescient 1994 memo from, E. Wayne Merry, chief political analyst at the US embassy in Moscow.
(nsarchive.gwu.edu)
Worth reading both his cover note and the original memo, now declassified, in full.
The most interesting aspect of this whole affair was the crucial role played by the Treasury. They were running the American effort in Russia, and would not listen to career foreign service officers' critique of their policy. When Merry wrote a critical memo, it was squashed by the Treasury: "it would give Larry Summers a heart attack."
I wouldn't be so pessimistic, the scenario in the US today isn't fundamentally different from other eras. If class consciousness could take root in tsarist Russia, there's no reason why it can't happen in the current environment in the US. There is also a history of a strong labor movement that organized during the great depression, and it wasn't even that long ago. The material conditions will be the driver for a movement forming the same way they always do. I also think it's worth looking at MAS in Bolivia as a great recent example of this happening.
The reality is that most code is very boring, and a lot of optimizations are a result of doing really basic things like this. A model being able to look through the code, notice patterns, and then let you know these kinds of obvious improvements is in fact very useful. It's not different than using a profiler to find bottlenecks. Having done development for over two decades, I don't feel like combing through the code to find these kinds of things is a really good use of my time or that it's improving my skills in any way.
If there's one thing we know about American AI companies it's that they have a spotless record when it comes to data ethics. Never touched unauthorized data. Swear! Not even once. Of course not.
I think we were actually closer when the US started firing missiles into Russia, but now that Biden is gone it's likely things will cool off a bit.
That should be the exact strategy, let the movement build internally and support it once it establishes itself legitimately.
lol pretty much, my biggest worry is that the US will flip the table once they realize they lost their hegemony
It really exposed that the US does not have any sort of tech superiority over China. Turns out a small team in China is able to leapfrog the entire AI industry in the US with thousands of engineers. It's a national embarrassment for the US, and it clearly shows that there is no way to hold China back. It's a bigger country, with a better educated population, and where the government directs labor towards productive efforts. The US will be left in the dust in the coming years.
Yankeestan is sitting on a lot of nukes though, and it's becoming increasingly unhinged by the day.
Particularly so given that client's whole job is to download multi gig files.